This Silent Music: An antidote to cultural numbness at James Turrell Skyspace Philadelphia

In a cultural moment defined by outrage, algorithmic overload, and collective exhaustion, This Silent Music proposes something almost radical: listening. Created specifically for Philadelphia’s James Turrell Skyspace, the interdisciplinary performance inaugurates a new ritual, bringing together three world premiere commissions that reimagine silence, light, and sound as the language of collective listening. On August 8, 2026, at 7:30pm, audiences become part of an immersive performance where music, architecture, and community converge in an act of witness.

Co-creators Katy Avery and Liz Lang arrive at the premiere having spent years creating interdisciplinary projects that examine identity, embodiment, and the ways contemporary audiences experience sound – This Silent Music builds on that shared artistic practice.

Anchoring the program are three world premiere commissions: a duet by transmasculine composer LJ White incorporating sonified black hole data from astrophysicist Becka Phillipson; a song cycle by Hawaiian-based Mieke Doezema confronting ecological loss through natural soundscapes shaped by the legacy of colonialism; and a song cycle by Lebanese composer Alex Wakim and poet George Abud that melds Arabic tonality and instrumentation with Western techniques, using tension and resolve as an act of cultural uncovering.

At a moment when public life rewards noise over nuance, This Silent Music offers an antidote to cultural numbness by treating collective listening not as a passive consumption, but as a radical public act.

This Silent Music
World Premiere • James Turrell Skyspace Philadelphia

Featuring three world premiere commissions:

At the End of It All
Composer: LJ White
Poetry: Nicole Young-Martin
Astrophysics Consultant: Becka Phillipson
Sopranos: Katy Avery & Liz Lang
Percussion: Darren Lin

This Silent Music
Composer: Alex Wakim
Poetry: George Abud
Soprano: Liz Lang
Percussion: Darren Lin
Oud: Harvey Valdes

Eucalyptus
Composer: Mieke Doezema
Poetry: Jonathan Sypert
Soprano: Katy Avery
Percussion: Darren Lin

Saturday, August 8, 2026 @ 7:30pm
A free, pre-concert conversation with members of the creative team will take place at 6:30pm

James Turrell Skyspace
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House
20 E Mermaid Ln
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
General Admission $25; Supporter $50; Founding Patron $100
thissilentmusic.com/tickets